Friday, May 27, 2011

Looking Out My Window: With Edwardo, my lawn boy, doing so much work, the yard is starting to look great. The perfect perennial garden is one where there is always something blooming. I'm not that good, but there are some bleeding hearts putting on a show.

My Weekend Plans Include: I thought it was a holiday weekend and we all should be resting, we have been invited to Denver to remove carpet from a bedroom. I think lunch is included. Sounds like a great deal!

I’m Reading: The Pioneer Woman: From Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, A Love Story by Ree Drummond. I didn't get to far this week.

Movie Marquee: Mad Men, season 4.

Something Quiltie: I finished a small Dr. Seuss quilt using all the leftover pieces I had from the other 4 I've made. That's it. I'm done with Seuss.

It was a Carrie Nelson's Schnibbles pattern.Perfect for

the small pieces I had left.

I had fun with the machine quilting.

One of My Favorite Things: Crossing things off a list.

What’s For Dinner: We're trying something new, Savory Peach Chicken. I've decided when I bring home a cookbook from the library I have to try some of the recipes right away or don't copy them. Otherwise, my pile gets bigger and bigger of untried ideas.

Friday, May 20, 2011

My Weekend Plans Include: I'm going to the May meeting for the Colorado Quilt Council. It's in Greeley this month and I have to drop off the quilt I am entering in the Capitol Quilt Show. More about that next week. The speaker is Flavin Glover, A New Look at Log Cabin Quilts. Other than that, no commitments.

I’m Reading: The Pioneer Woman: From Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, A Love Story by Ree Drummond.

Movie Marquee: Mad Men, season 3.

Something Quiltie: The half square triangle exchange has ended at the shop. Now comes the hard part. Our participants really embraced the project. I have 9000 half square triangles to sort and bag up in the next two days.

Here's the beginning of my pile. I made 448 so I will get 448

back, but they will be different and scrappy.

One of My Favorite Things: I love to go and pick out a pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream at the grocery store. There are so many fun flavors to choose. It's hard to pick. The last time we got Red Velvet Cake. It's a new flavor for spring. Yum!

What’s For Dinner: Pulcinella's Pizza

A Favorite Photo:

All of Ed's graduate students are finally finished andhe didn't have to go to graduation, but he does lookgood in the hat.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

The challenge came before I started to quilt,
when I was deciding what was going to be the

best and least obtrusive way to mark the quilt

with the patterns I had decided to use.

There was no one answer.

And there is not always an easy answer.

Sounds a lot like life!

Sometimes when the markings are easy to see,

it can be an issue to remove them when you're done.

I took a class from Jinny Beyers almost 25 years ago

and I have always remembered her comment about the blue wash

way markers that many people find easy to use.

The markers were fairly new at the time and

she was concerned about the residual chemicals that probably

remained in the fibers even after washing.

"In 50 years, would we find quilts that

are deteriorating along the quilting lines when the
quilts had been marked with the blue marker?"

We still don't know, do we?

When I handquilted everything, I would

premark my entire quilt before I started.

It is easier to mark a flat quilt on a hard

surface rather than one that is basted already.
The other positive is that it is

easier to plan for perfectly designed borders on paper before

marking willy nilly along the fabric edge and realizing that the pattern isn't going to fit.

In the case of premarking, the marked lines had better stay put until the quilting is done.

I use a very fine mechanical pencil in regular lead or

a white Prisma pencil.

Generally, by the time I was done quilting,

most of the lines were faded, so it works out perfectly for me.

(Unless I had been very zealous in my marking.)

In marking this quilt, I was struggling to figure
out the best method for marking a stencil pattern.
I was only using a portion of the design so I couldn't pounce
it on to the quilt top, it was on white cloth so I didn't want anything
that could possibly pose a problem to remove, and I didn't want to
take the time to trace the patterns on to Golden Threads paper and
then have to tear it away.
Not every way is the best way in certain situations.

I finally settled on a tried and true method, using a
General's chalk pencil.
The chalk color was light enough not be be a problem and it was easy to mark
just the portions of the stencil that I wanted.

My only complaint with those pencils comes in the sharpening. To keep
a sharp point is a challenge. The chalk wears down quickly and
it continually breaks in even the sharpest hand held sharpener.

So by the time I got to the borders, I barely had enough

pencil left to finish the job.

But it worked out.

I'm working on the binding now, and it'll

ready for Thursday's class. Show you then.

Isn't it interesting how challenges in one simple part of life can
teach us how to face challenges in other parts.

Welcome!

Welcome. You have found the blog of Kyle
Redente, wife, mother, nana, and a quiltmaker since 1973 and a dabbler in many other creative
endeavors. I hope to share with you my
thoughts on life, quilting, cooking and whatever else stirs the passions of my heart.